The Bridge - USF School of Nursing and Health Professions Newsletter

Summer 2011 - Vol VI Issue 1

Dean’s Letter

Each year, The Bridge, provides me with the opportunity to update friends of the School of Nursing and Health Professions with some of the exciting accomplishments of our faculty, staff, and students. There are always so many to report, and this year is no exception.

As you read in this edition of The Bridge, you will learn about our new Master’s of Public Health (MPH) program that starts this fall. With the addition of this program we are changing the name of the school to reflect this expansion to the School of Nursing and Health Professions. Advancing health professions programming at USF has become a university priority. Our goal is to expand health professions’ options that are mission-centric and built upon the strategic goals of USF 2028. To that end, Fr. Privett has appointed a President’s Commission on Health Professions Education. This is a group of 35+ commissioners with a high-level perspective on, expertise in, and commitment to health and wellness, health-care delivery, and health professions education. Their charge is “Building on current strength in the delivery of professional education in nursing, the commission will seek to expand the scope and depth of health professions education at the graduate level with a focus on emerging fields, high demand areas for national and global health priorities, and areas of practice that will link the educational endeavor to providing health-related services in innovative and sustainable patterns of outreach.” If you would like to follow the work of the commission and see who is participating, please check our website: http://www.usfca.edu/nursing/PCHPE/ I look forward to sharing the report of the commission with you all in our next newsletter.

The School has now surpassed the 1000+ student mark. Our baccalaureate program continues to prepare the very best nurses, highly sought after, even in this economic slowdown. The master’s entry CNL program continues to grow in stature and demand and the MSN programing for RNs has developed the reputation that has propelled it to all the USF regional campuses, as well as cohort programming in individual hospitals. In January it will be available as an online option for the working nurse professional. As the first DNP program in California, our doctoral program has established itself as a leader in the field and our DNP graduates serve as our very best recruiters. The DNP options for both the nurse practitioner and nurse leader are extremely popular and our reputation for doctoral education is expansive.

As a result of our growth, we have also been able to garner additional faculty and staff resources: this fall we have 31 faculty FTE and 13 staff. Our successful growth has lead to the related consequence of space availability. As you would suspect, space has become a big issue and one that we are hoping to address in the upcoming semesters.

This year we will be having a number of events at which I hope you will be able to join us. On October 19 we will be honoring the launch of the MPH Program. Barbara Garcia, Director of Health San Francisco Department of Public Health will present an update on her first year in the director position and the public health issues facing the city. In early spring will be our annual Crawford Lecture, and toward the end of the spring term we will once again hold a “Student Showcase” during which students from all the programs will present an overview of their exciting and meaningful work. More information will be available as the times draw near. Each year many of your come to visit us at the school. We love hosting our alumni and friends, so if you have the chance, please come by to see us.